San Diego Chiropractic Blog

Types of Headaches

Headaches is one of the major afflictions for which new patients visit my chiropractic office in San Diego. This condition may seem like a minor health issue to those of us who do not suffer from chronic or severe headaches. But they can have a major role as to how the patient and the population are generally affected. Over ten million visits to the doctor in the United States were caused by headaches in 2007 alone, while being a popular excuse for calling out of work and school.

Medications from the doctor offer relief for a little while, but don’t do anything to help the origin. Chiropractic care, on the other hand, works directly at righting the root causes that trigger a multitude of headaches. This piece will delineate the five basic kinds of headaches — tension, toxic, sinus, cluster and migraine — so you may have a better understanding of which kind of headache you might be experiencing.

Tension Headaches

The most common type of headache, by far, is tension headaches. Roughly 4 out of 5 people are subject to tension headaches from time to time, while five percent are subject to tension headaches every day. Tension headaches affect women twice as much as men.

The duration of anywhere from 30 minutes to several days is average for tension headaches. Band-like pain, pressure, or throbbing of the head are the most common symptoms related to this type of headache.

There can be a significant increase in severity with the frequency of the headaches. Emotional stress, depression, not enough rest, poor posture, and/or chiropractic subluxation causing pressure on the nerves are some of the multiple causes for tension headaches. More frequently than otherwise, this kind of headache normally happens due to a mixture of the above mentioned causes.

Toxic Headaches

This is a rare occurrence of a headache in the medical community. Despite this fact, it is often straightforward to identify this category of headache, when occurring as a result to toxin exposure.

Sinus Headaches

Sinus headaches are not unusual, and the pain is localized to sinus cavities around the forehead, eyes, nose, and cheeks. Rather than relieving sinus headaches long term, many medications used for this purpose ironically may exacerbate and prolong sinus conditions.

Cluster Headaches

Cluster headaches are one of the most intense sort of headaches and are normally one-sided. Luckily, though, they are quite unusual and less than 0.1% of people suffer from them. They generally begin prior to age 30 and happen in time periods ranging from 14 days to three months.

These headaches usually occur one to three times per day, lasting for 30-90 minutes. The patient usually awakens from them one to two hours after retiring.

When the cluster period is over, these headaches may disappear for months or years, but the headaches reappear later on. These attacks are considered to be tied to circadian rhythms in the pineal gland and hypothalamus, which controls the resting and awake cycles. This type of headache often occur with spring or fall changes in season.

Migraine Headaches

Migraine headaches, vascular in nature, are caused by variations in the arteries inside and outside the brain. Approximately 28 million Americans suffer with migraines, however approximately 13 million Americans don’t have a diagnosis now. Migraines affect more women than men. Of the ones who have been diagnosed, 25 percent experience at least four episodes per month; 35 percent endure 1-4 attacks per month, and the final 40 percent go through one attack per month or less. Migraines can commonly last from four hours to three days.

There is a family history of migraines in four out of five sufferers from migraines. Children who have one parent who gets migraines have a 50 percent chance of getting them, and if both parents get them, they have a 75 percent chance.

Understanding migraine headache triggers may help avoid future headaches; common trigger factors include weather changes, caffeine, chemical exposure, fatigue or insomnia, and missed meals. Signs may include an aura in the form of light, noise or odor sensitivity; nausea or vomiting; and stomach distress or pain. Additional symptoms of paleness, dizziness, a mild fever, or an upset stomach may manifest in a child with a migraine.

Written by the best San Diego Chiropractor

Chiropractic care is more than just adjusting the spine.  The philosophy of chiropractic includes care of the entire body - a large portion of this care includes nutrition.   Chiropractors use a holistic approach, meaning that when you have neck pain, we not only treat your neck but we also look for the cause of your neck pain.  Sometimes that neck pain is due to a simple misalignment of a vertebra, somtimes it occurs secondary to postural stress and sometimes there are nutrition causes.  If we don’t examin all of the potential causes of your neck pain, back pain or headaches, then treatment may be quite ineffective.

Regarding nutrition, my understanding of the nearly immediate impact of a healthy diet on my own body was recently re-booted.  I have been on a strict diet of non-processed whole foods and a supplement regimen from Standard Process for the last 21 days.

At the onset of this program I imagined that when it was finished that I would no-doubt eat an occasional piece of pizza or a burrito or have a Sunday morning cup of coffee to satisfy my cravings. Well, my thoughts have changed and my cravings are gone!

This has become the jumpstart for the lifestyle change that I have desired and pursued for many years. The following is a list of some of the more noticeable changes that this program has made for me.

1) Noticeable reduction in anxiety

2) Significant decrease in blood pressure

3) Sleep is much improved

4) Complete loss of my cravings for coffee, sugar and fattening foods

5) Increased energy levels through my day

6) No more bloating or indigestion after meals

7) My pants don’t fit anymore - I lost 15 pounds.

 Much more stable blood sugar levels - no more crashing!

9) Significant decrease in knee pain, ankle pain and neck pain.

As a chiropractor, I have always encouraged my family, friends and patients to maintain their spinal health through regular chiropractic care and to pursue a healthy lifestyle. I am embarrassed to say that even though I maintained a diet that would be considered much healthier than the average persons prior to the start of this Detox - Purification - Weight Loss Program, I really wasn’t healthy.

I would encourage all of you to examine your lifestyles, especially those of you over 30. If you are eating fast food, drinking coffee and / or soda and eating processed foods out of cans / boxes you need to consider a lifestyle change. No one wants to be fat and ill when we get older. But that is exactly what the typical diet supports!

I can’t imagine reverting back to my old eating habits after completing this program. The taste of my favorite Mexican food, that occasional cold soda on a hot day or that warm morning cup of coffee doesn’t even begin to compare to how my new eating habits have made me feel. That old diet was easy and fast - and totally not worth the ill health that came with it.

The combination of eliminating the intake of unhealthy foods with the powerful Detox / Purification provided by the Standard Process Supplements and the undeniable benefit of consuming fresh fruits, vegetables and lean animal proteins like fish and chicken have made both Linda and I feel like completely new people.

Those of you who would like to go through the Standard Process Purification program should call the office or just come in and talk to us about what you need to get started.

The cost for the supplements that you will need for the entire 21 day program is reasonable - the benefits of completing the program are Priceless!

Your’s In Good Health

Dr. Jones

San Diego Chiropractic Care
Chiropractor San Diego

In my chiropractic office in San Diego, I treat people that are more oriented toward taking proactive steps in maintaining their health. In addition to helping my patients with the typical neck pain, back pain and headaches that are common complaints for chiropractors, I also give advice regarding other lifestyle changes that help them become healthier people.

Food cravings are the downfall for many of us regarding our health. I can’t recall what the disorders or deficiencies were, but I remember studying conditions that made some people crave dirt - that is right, people crave to eat dirt, and other deficiencies that made people crave aspirin. Obviously, none of us would think that a nice plate of dirt for dinner would sound good without some underlying nutritional deficiency that would drive us to such a craving.

It is interesting how mineral deficiencies can result in cravings of more typical types of foods. Naturopath Colleen Huber says that all food cravings are a signal that our bodies are telling us that we need more of certain types of foods. For example; when we crave sweets our bodies really need chromium, carbon, phosphorus, sulfur or tryptophan. A craving for chocolate can be an indicator that you are deficient in magnesium while a craving for salty foods is an indication that we are chloride deficient. If you crave soda or other carbonated drinks what you really need is calcium.

This is incredibly valuable information. Once again, as a chiropractor I am not only concerned with relieving my patients back pain or neck pain but I am concerned about their health as a whole. Poor diets are fueled by cravings that we often don’t understand and poor diet planning. A poor diet can cause low energy, weight gain, low self image and a feeling of being out of control among a host of other much more serious disorders.

Your’s In Good Health

Dr. Jones

San Diego Chiropractic Care
Chiropractor San Diego

For the most part, San Diego is a city of fairly fit and active people. Since I am a chiropractor in San Diego, I can’t help but notice that a fairly large portion of my patients are trying to lose weight.

Losing weight is not only a noble endeavor but a difficult one.

Losing weight is not only good for your cardiovascular health but also for your health in general. Losing extra weight is very important to your skeletal health as well. Every extra pound that you carry puts a little more stress through your spinal joints causing excessive wear and tear.

Excessive wear and tear results in arthritis, neck pain, back pain, headaches, sciatic pain, hip pain, knee pain etc. I am of the opinion that less pain is better.

Chiropractic care is an important part of your efforts to maintain your spinal health. That being said, you should not dismiss the importance of keeping fit as it directly relates to your spines’ ability to withstand the stresses of a long life.

Since I am sure that at least some of my patients’ problems are due to the fact that they carry excess weight, I thought I would give a few suggestions for successful weight loss.

1) Remember that weight control is your responsibility. Having a weight loss partner who agrees to “watch out for you” will only inspire you to cheat while they are not watching.

2) Don’t let a single failure in your diet degrade into a whole day of poor diet choices. If you blow a part of your diet, don’t view your entire day of eating as a failure and consume junk all day. Pick up your good diet choices the next time you have a meal.

3) Don’t start dieting prior to holidays or vacations where you will be tempted by overindulging making it difficult to lose weight.

4) Don’t weigh your self more than a few times each month. Losing weight takes time which isn’t compatible with Americans desire for instant results.

5) Cut back on salts, caffeinated drinks and soda. Even diet soda!

6) Drink plenty of water and try eating soup before meals to help reduce the number of calories you consume.

These are just a few simple ways to start trimming those extra pounds.

Both you and your spine will be better for it.

Yours In Good Health

Dr. Jones

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Over the years, my San Diego Chiropractic Center has provided treatment for hundreds of people suffering from back pain, neck pain and leg pain that is easily attributed to their running habits.

I have read countless times in various journal articles that running becomes detrimental if your distance is greater than 15 miles per week or further than 3 miles per run. The conclusions that these articles drew to is that running beyond the guidelines previously mentioned does the joints more harm than the aerobic benefit of the exercise does your body good. It seems that these studies indict long distance running as an exercise of diminishing returns.

That being said, for those of you who do run, there is good news concerning the health benefits of running. Researchers reported in the July 2001 issue of American Journal of Public Health that men in their 30s who jog a minimum of ten times monthly develop a bone density that is at least 5 percent higher than that of men who jog less frequently.

The study analyzed answers to questions in a health survey of over 4,000 men, including 954 joggers and 3,300 who did not jog at all. The study included results of hip joint X-rays taken of each man to determine bone density. The researchers then compared the findings from joggers with results from non-joggers.

Dr. Michael E. Mussolino, a researcher at the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention office said the results showed that, “The men who were jogging nine times a month were doing much better than those who were jogging only one to eight times a month. Even those who jogged eight or fewer times a month had a higher bone density than those who did not jog at all.” He also noted that the study showed that it does not require marathon-like running to build strong bones.

The National Institutes of Health estimates that 10 million Americans have osteoporosis and another 18 million are at risk of the disease. Eighty percent of these people are women. The NIH estimates that one out of every two women and one in eight men will break a bone as the result of osteoporosis within their lifetime. The report states that building dense strong bones in young adulthood is considered by experts to be an important factor in preventing osteoporosis.

Yours In Good Health

Dr. Jones

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Lower back pain is one of the most frustrating things for patients to deal with. I have had what I consider bad lower back pain, bad neck pain and other injuries that get my full attention. Of all of these conditions, I think that lower back pain has been the worst spine complaint that I have had. Since I became a chiropractor in San Diego, I have taken informal surveys of my patients regarding the area of their backs that create the greatest level of disability when aggravated and more often than not the answer is lower back pain.

Chiropractic care for lower back pain is pretty straight forward. Usually low back pain is accompanied by muscle spasms which have to be addressed first. Most low back pain patients do very well with treatment that begins with the application of hot packs and electrical muscle stimulation. Electrical muscle stimulation sounds intimidating to some people but it is a very comfortable, relaxing form of therapy that is excellent at soothing muscle spasms.

Once the muscles have been relaxed as much as possible, the affected joints of the lower back can be adjusted. Much like the sound of electrical muscle stimulation, some people find the sound of having their joints manipulated intimidating. In fact, the overwhelming majority of even first time chiropractic patients find the joint manipulations to be comfortable and soothing to their back pain.

Chiropractic care is delivered as a series of treatments rather than a single session. That is not to say that you may not attain 100% relief with one session, but you shouldn’t count on it. The rule of thumb in regards to how much care you may need for a low back issue is that you must allow for one week of active care (2 to 3 visits per week) for each month that you have had a particular problem. This level of frequency and consistency will ensure the greatest level of recovery with chiropractic care.

Yours In Good Health

Dr. Jones

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“Hey Doc, is it OK if I crack my own neck?”

In my San Diego chiropractic clinic, I treat many patients for neck pain, back pain and other joint pains. A few of these patients ask me if it is OK if they crack their necks and backs by themselves. A few of them will tell me that they have their kids or the wife walk on their back. And a few of them are in my office because either they cracked their back or neck by themselves or they had someone else do it for them which resulted in an injury.

The funny thing about some of these people who were injured by a non-chiropractic adjustment is that they are nervous about me adjusting them for their neck pain or back pain.

The truth about cracking your own neck or back is that it is not very safe. Usually people develop pain or stiffness in the spine because of an injury or some ongoing condition. Chiropractors are trained to specifically diagnose and provide treatment for these conditions or injuries.

Through the course of my fifteen year career, I have seen patients who have broken vertebra by adjusting their own necks and backs. I have seen broken ribs as a result of having someone walk on their backs, I have seen two patients who suffered mild strokes from cracking their own necks and I had one patient whose brother suffered paralysis from the chest down because his partner walked on his back resulting in a crushed vertebra and a seriously damaged spinal cord.

Some people crack their own joints daily for years without suffering obvious serious consequences. Even these people are doing themselves a disservice. In no normal situation should you feel as though you have to crack a specific joint every day. Those who do crack the same joints everyday for years will develop arthritis in those joints resulting in pain, dysfunction and possibly disability.

In most cases cracking or as we chiropractors call it “adjusting” a joint is fairly easy once the skills are acquired. However, the one of the most important things regarding the delivery of any type of health care is when not to deliver it. In every case that I have seen when a patient was injured by a non-chiropractic adjustment, the injured patient “thought” that they knew what was wrong.

Don’t make the same mistakes. If you need to get adjusted, go to the chiropractor!

Your’s In Good Health

Dr. Jones

www.JonesPainRelief.com

Being a practicing chiropractor in San Diego for the last 15 plus years has given me the opportunity to manage hundreds of cases of lower back pain. I would say that of these cases of low back pain, at least 75% of them are the result of a sedentary lifestyle and lack of core strength.

Our spines are essentially a stack of bones that give use the ability to flex, bend and twist while at the same time provide protection for our spinal cord. Ligaments, which are tough fibrous bands of tissue help provide stability of the joints. Another major contributor of stability for our spines comes from the muscles. The muscles in our bodies, regardless of where they are located should be strong and flexible. Strong flexible muscles in our core help prevent injuries.

The trend in America is that we are becoming heavier and exercising less. In addition to this trend, or perhaps a contributor to this trend is the fact that so many people have work that revolves around the computer. I know that some of my patients sit at a computer station all day long - every day of the week.

Sitting at a computer has multiple ill effects on the health of our spines. The postural stress of sitting puts stress on the discs that separate our vertebrae. When we sit, the normal forward sweeping curve of our low backs round backward which displaces the weight of our bodies forward putting increased pressure on the discs. This posture also stretches the muscles that run down the back of the spine eventually causing what is known as a “stretch weakness”.

It is the loss of core strength combined with the postural stress of sitting at work for hours and days on end that leads to most of the back problems that I see at work. I always find it ironic that office workers who are in for treatment make comments about how I must see so many heavy laborers for back pain while my office is filled with computer jockeys.

The solutions to the problems described above are simple but require diligence. First of all, you have to take breaks if you sit all day. I had a seminar years ago where one of the speakers gave a simple solution to get you up and moving during the day. He suggested that you have a small, 8 oz glass of water on your desk that you drink from all day. With this plan, every twenty minutes or so you will have to get up to get more water or get up to go to the bathroom. These mini breaks in your day help relieve postural stress.

The second part of taking care of your back involves building strength in your core. This involves exercise. Walking, jogging, bicycle riding, crunches and various exercises on a Swiss Ball will all go a long way towards building core strength and reducing your chances of lower back injury.

Your’s In Good Health

Dr. Jones

www.JonesPainRelief.com

Does acute or chronic back pain have you down? Looking for alternatives to what your current back pain management plan is? Read on!

Practicing chiropractic in San Diego has exposed me to a patient base that is more interested in their health then in other areas of the country. In addition to traditional chiropractic treatment for neck pain and back pain our office offers our patients a host of recommendations for self care of their pain that can become part of a healthy lifestyle.

In order to help control episodes of back or neck pain, immediately drink several glasses of water. In some cases, dehydration will cause muscular aches and back pain. The rule of thumb of drinking eight, eight ounce glasses of water per day is healthy in general. Incidentally, headaches can be caused by dehydration as well. If you have headaches on a regular basis, increasing your water consumption may give you relief.

Ice applications to the area of pain can also be beneficial. Ice helps reduce inflammation which not only causes pain but can trigger local muscle spasms that lead to functional losses. There used to be an old rule concerning icing that suggested ice for the first 48 hours and then apply heat after that. Modern clinical studies indicate that as long as you have pain, you have inflammation. Inflammation always responds better to ice than it does to heat. We recommend that our patients ice their back pain or neck pain 20 minutes at a time at least two times per day with at least a 20 minute break in between sessions. Ice with a soft gel pack through a thin piece of clothing. Lastly, watch for frostbite - if the skin over the area that you are icing turns red or brown and scabs over you did too much.

Try to not sleep on your stomach. Stomach sleeping puts your back into extension which compresses the joints that run down the back of your spine. You should either sleep on your back with your knees supported with a pillow or sleep on your side in the fetal position. Either of these two positions may be comfortable for you and allow for a better nights sleep.

Do not try to exercise out of the pain. Exercise is vital to strengthening your back and providing stability but it needs to begin when your original pain has subsided and or is no longer aggravated by physical activity. The joints in our spines are supported by the ligaments and muscles. Once injured, ligaments heal slowly and may never provide the support that they did before the injury. We can improve our muscle tone, however, through exercise to regain pre-injury stability.

One last bit of advice that I will mention in this article is nutritional supplementation. Nutritional supplements can not only help you heal faster but can help control pain and inflammation as well. Among the common supplements that we recommend are essential fatty acids, Glucosamine, Chondroitin, SAMe and vitamin C.

Yours In Good Health

Dr. Jones

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I don’t know about you, but I am a headache wimp. I hardly ever get headaches, when I do I don’t handle them very well. I get moody and I tend to “snap” at people that really mean me no harm.

In addition to my San Diego chiropractic office treating patients with neck pain and low back pain, we see many people with headaches. Headaches have many causes and there are many different types of headaches as well.

The most common types of headache that we provide treatment for are migraine and muscle tension headaches.

Muscle tension headaches typically begin in the muscles of the neck and upper back. When these muscle become tense, they pull on the muscles that cover your head. This tension results in a headache.

Muscle tension headaches can result from postural stresses such as long hours of computer work, they can develop as a result of car accident injuries, or just plain old work and home stresses.

One common reason for chronic, on going tension in the muscle is miss-aligned vertebra. When the vertebra become miss-aligned due to postural stress, awkward sleeping positions, accidents, etc., the muscles around that vertebra tighten up as a protective mechanism. The tight muscles are commonly the root cause of the muscle tension headache.

Chiropractic care re-aligns the joints of the spine causing a relaxation of the surrounding muscles. When the joints in the neck are re-aligned, the muscles that move and support that particular vertebra relax and return to their normal functions.

When the muscles are relaxed, the muscle tension subsides and the headache goes away. Treatment for muscle tension headaches usually requires a series of treatments but you should notice a decrease in the frequency and the severity of your headache with subsequent treatment.

Your’s In Good Health

Dr. Jones

www.JonesPainRelief.com